One In A Million Muggles That Is
by skybluepink
Summary: Draco's Apparating Test goes horibbly wrong... Muggle-filled Oxford Street, London, is hardly the best location for a human-hating wizard - especially when somebody unexpected shows up...
1. Chapter 1

Late, late, late.  
  
It wasn't exactly the best day, Draco decided angrily to himself, to have one's Apparating Test sprung on oneself. Especially, he mentally grumbled, with it being due to the fact that his stupid personal house-elf, Adora, had forgotten to remind him about it the night before.  
  
Opening his wardrobe, his silver eyes scanned the contents. Past shelves of robes, hanging cloaks and numerous other items of usual wizard's attire, his gaze came to rest on his somewhat depleted collection of muggle clothing.  
  
Draco barely ever wore muggle clothes at home; they were strictly for weekend trips into Hogsmeade during the school term. His father had always made it perfectly clear that The Malfoy Manner was strictly anti-muggle, and Draco couldn't see his father being too approving if he sauntered downstairs each day of the school holidays wearing the garments of mudbloods.  
  
However, today it was necessary to look like a muggle. Draco shuddered. It was not a pleasant thought. It was just that if he ended up materialising in the wrong place, a place full of muggles, he would at least 'fit in' visually.  
  
Putting his father out of his mind for a moment, Draco grabbed the first items of clothing he could see. White t-shirt with 'Calvin Klein' splashed across the front, black jeans with a label screaming the same name on the back pocket (Lucius Malfoy has always insisted that if Draco was going to dress as scum, he should dress as the best kind of scum did), and his favourite item of clothing, despite extreme disapproval from his family, a black leather jacket. Draco never could understand how muggles could take such ugly animals as cows and convert them into such an attractive jacket, but he rarely dwelled on it anyway.  
  
Slipping his feet into a pair of black shoes he took a deep breath and crossed his fingers. This was his last chance to practise before the test. Closing his eyes and contorting his face in concentration, he disappeared with a small "POP".  
  
***  
  
"Good morning Draco, so glad you could finally join us." Lucius Malfoy shot his son a cold stare across the family dining table, which could have easily passed for a banqueting table for its immense length.  
  
"Apologies father," Draco quickly responded, nervously. He then shot an angry look at Adora, who was refilling Lucius's wine goblet. "Adora didn't wake me this morning."  
  
Lucius's cold stare redirected to the quivering house-elf by his side.  
  
"Stupid creature," he hissed, swiping at her head with a rolled up copy of The Daily Prophet. "Get out of my sight!"  
  
"S-s-sorry Master," Adora scuttled back into the kitchen, frightened tears trickling down her cheeks.  
  
"Draco, you'll be late for your test." Draco's mother Narcissa said, rather absent-mindedly, Draco thought.  
  
"Noah Baron-Williams [that was Draco's Apparating Instructor] will be meeting you at the gate of the Manor at ten to eleven," Lucius casually commented.  
  
Draco darted a glance at his watch. It was five to eleven. With no time for a sit-down breakfast, Draco whipped out his wand.  
  
"Accio!" He pointed it at the table. A piece of toast came whizzing towards his face. Catching it deftly in-between his teeth, Draco muttered something of a goodbye and ran for the front door, held open by a subdued Adora. 


	2. Chapter 2

His face slightly pink from racing up the driveway to The Manor's front gate, and his blonde hair falling helplessly into his face, Draco breathlessly acknowledged his Apparating Instructor, seeming oblivious to the fact that he had already kept him waiting.  
  
"You're late." Noah Baron-Williams enjoyed pointing out the obvious.  
  
"I have an incompetent house-elf," Draco commented in his usual drawl.  
  
Noah looked pointedly at Draco. Then he remembered:  
  
Malfoys don't apologise  
  
There was an awkward silence before Noah half-heartedly smiles and cleared his throat.  
  
"Well, I suppose we should get this show on the road".  
  
Not returning his smile, Draco nodded.  
  
Without much further ado, Noah launched into the full details of the Apparating Test. He had this rather irritating habit, Draco had noticed, of explaining things in such immense detail that not even an English-speaking walrus could botch the task in question. Feeling above this, Draco made a conscious effort to tune out, catching only the odd word of the explanation,  
  
"... imperative that you visualise the exact destination... blah blah blah... requires the utmost concentration... if it goes wrong, remember to..."  
  
Draco scoffed at that part - like anything would go wrong.  
  
Noah continued, "The last thing we need is another 17 year old mis- apparated wizard causing cat reproduction..."  
  
"WHAT?!" Draco's head snapped up.  
  
Noah repeated, "I said the last thing we need is another 17 year old mis- apparated wizard causing mass ructions!"  
  
"Oh..." Draco phased out again. His stomach rumbled; toast was not exactly the most filling of foods.  
  
"So Draco," Noah suddenly stopped short after what seemed like an eternity later, "any questions?"  
  
Draco swallowed hard and grinned, blinking himself back to full consciousness.  
  
"When can we start?"  
  
Noah's face broke into a wide grin. "Excellent." He whipped out his wand and waved it at his spare hand, "empiraralicus" - a palm-sized scroll materialised there. Noah put his wand away, cleared his throat once again and unrolled the pint-sized piece of parchment.  
  
"This is to certify that the Apparating Test of Mr. Draco Malfoy is now in session." His raised his eyebrows at Draco, who effortlessly raised one back.  
  
"You will be required to perform a simple series of apparition exercises prior to your main apparation,"  
  
Noah paused. Draco tensed. At least there would be no more hyperbolic babbling; under test conditions, Noah Baron-Williams abided religiously to Ministry Regulations.  
  
After ten minutes of mind-numbingly easy exercises around the area close to The Manor, Noah finally announced that it was time for the main show.  
  
"Mr. Malfoy, I am impressed. Not a mistake so far. Its seems you are nothing short of ready for the big one."  
  
Draco smiled smugly.  
  
"Righty-ho..." Noah consulted the parchment. "Ah, a tricky one... Not to worry," he quickly added, "shouldn't be a problem for someone like you."  
  
"Well...?" Draco's usually laid-back tone was gone, in its place an air of impatience.  
  
"Apparition from here..." The pause was obviously put in for effect - it hadn't worked. Draco Malfoy was not one for pathetic fallacy. "... To Next Street, in Oxford. It's a quiet little cul-de-sac, barely any muggles about."  
  
The smug smile was back.  
  
"I'll met you in Oxford then, in about... hmm, lets not be too generous, giving you an allowance for examination nerves... 10 seconds? Does that sound fair to you?"  
  
"Perfectly..."  
  
"Looking forward to passing you Mr. Malfoy."  
  
Noah disapparated.  
  
Draco sighed, and ran his hands through his blonde hair. He was suddenly more nervous than previously.  
  
Concentrating on his instructions, Draco took a deep breath, repeating his thoughts aloud:  
  
"Piece... of... POP! - Draco disappeared.  
  
... cake!"  
  
***  
  
As everything came back into focus around him, coloured blurs melting into distinct shapes, and the sounds of the environment came flooding into his ears, it became horribly apparent to Draco. Something had gone disastrously wrong! 


	3. Chapter 3

Muggles...  
  
Draco's eyes widened in shock. How could his perfectly planned apparition have gone so horribly wrong.  
  
He was definitely on a street (he'd got that part right), not that he could se much of it. From every direction, covering every millimetre of space there were muggles pouring past him at an alarming pace. It was most disconcerting.  
  
"Tuh, what a stupid place to stand; get out of my way!" A middle-aged woman with three whining brats attached to her arms pushed past Draco.  
  
Following closely behind her were about six teenage boys, laughing at what they had just seen. "Smooth move... BLONDIE!" One of them commented, as the rest erupted into moronic laughter. As he struggled to prevent himself turning pink in anger and embarrassment, Draco was strongly reminded of Crabbe and Goyle. He shuddered - was it possible that other people existed of such an extreme level of stupidity?  
  
As the boys shoved past Draco, he was knocked into the glass wall of a building. On closer inspection it was a window pane. The window pane of a shop. Not the kind of shop Draco was used to seeing, like those in Diagon or Knockturn Alley, but a shop nevertheless. In white lettering he read, muttering aloud to himself, "WELCOME TO NEXT - OXFORD STREET".  
  
"Next, Oxford Street... Next Street, Oxford..." Draco's mind was slowly coming to terms with his stupid mistake. Groaning, he slapped his hand against his forehead.  
  
"How could I be so bloody stupid?" It wasn't directed at anybody in particular, but several elderly passers-by eyed Draco in a less-than- approving manner for his choice of words.  
  
Without stopping to think for a second, Draco wandered from the shelter of Next's doorway along Oxford Street, keeping up at this horribly fast muggle pace so as to avoid any sort of confrontation unless absolutely necessary.  
  
He reached a street corner, and, moving away from the main flow of pedestrian traffic, leant up against the side wall of a corner shop. No sooner as he was alone, a small owl swooped down from a rooftop depositing a small envelope in his hand. On the back it had the Ministry of Magic's seal. Before he could even begin to comment, the owl had flown away.  
  
Draco shuddered. He knew the contents before even opening it... He slit open the envelope, out of which slid a thin sheet of parchment with 5 words on it, printed in glimmering gold lettering:  
  
** FAILED ** Better Luck Next Time  
  
The little colour Draco's face had to it drained away as true realisation sank in. He was stranded in the centre of London, surrounded by enough muggles to make his skin crawl so much it might just slither off his bones, with no means of communication with the wizarding world and worst of all, if he ever found his way home, his father was going to pulverise him for failing.  
  
Malfoys don't fail.  
  
Another stupid rule driven into his skull by his pompous git of a father.  
  
Ugh... Things were very bad...  
  
Draco rammed his hands into the pockets of his jeans and jacket, pulling out the contents. 8 galleons, 6 sickles and a knut. Whilst in the wizard world that gave him more freedom than most, here it meant nothing.  
  
It was quite cold. Draco wrapped his jacket tightly around himself. Something relatively sharp poked him in the chest - his wand!  
  
Draco considered his options for a moment. He could risk trouble from the Ministry if he used wand-magic to get himself out of this, and illegally apparating, without instructor supervision would lead to both trouble with the Ministry AND possible splinching.  
  
Draco winced. How thoroughly unpleasant that would be, to say the least.  
  
Perhaps if he ignored the problem it might go away. Draco knew that this was a blatantly stupid idea, but it could hardly make things any worse. Not like the other two options open to him, which could definitely make things very much worse for him.  
  
***  
  
With that thought in mind, Draco made his way back to the main road and continued walking.  
  
Besides, he thought, it could be interesting.  
  
Draco, having been sheltered from muggles for the majority of his life, had never really experienced muggle appliances. The unknown held an irresistible fascination.  
  
Suddenly screwing up his face in distaste, Draco remembered never to make his secret curiosity for muggle 'memorabilia' too apparent. The thought of being associated with common fools like Arthur Weasley made his stomach churn.  
  
"MALFOY?!" A dangerously familiar voice rang out, causing Draco to spin around faster than an out-of-control zoetrope. His reflex so quick, the tendons in his neck threatening to snap at this unexpected movement, Draco's hand flew to his neck as an involuntary protective measure.  
  
Draco's mouth fell open...  
  
Just when he had thought the day could not get any worse! 


	4. Chapter 4

Suddenly realising his mouth had dropped open and he was gasping for words in a manner likened to a dying fish, Draco quickly recovered from his initial shock.  
  
"You!" Forgetting his vulnerable position for a moment, Draco narrowed his eyes, and spat the word out, as if it was bitter to taste.  
  
"I'm so glad you're as pleased to see me as I am to see you!" The reply way dripping with sarcasm, "I mean, I'm just verging on ecstasy here!"  
  
Draco's silver-blue eyes were locked on the chocolate-brown ones in front of him, and the fire reflected between them could be described as anything but warm and welcoming.  
  
"Lost?" The sarcasm didn't entirely subside. "Surely Daddy wouldn't let you out alone in public..." there was a pause for effect, and the voice dropped to a stage whisper "...surely he can't know that you're fraternising with muggles!"  
  
"I'm not even going to dignify that with an answer GRANGER!" Draco hissed, staring cold-heartedly at Hermione, a smirk playing at the corners of his lips. "However, I am going to say, that your mud-blooded self must feel quite at home here...amongst your own kind - second-rate SCUM!"  
  
Hermione felt her cheeks start to heat up, but she swallowed down her temper; this was something she had become quite good at, having dealt with Malfoy's prejudice and rude comments for the last seven years. But in her mind, there was one thing still confusing her: what in the blue blazes was he doing in the most muggle-congested area in the country? And wearing muggle clothes?  
  
Hermione's calculating mind came to a quick conclusion. She grinned to herself.  
  
"You know something Malfoy, I'm just going to go now. I've got friends meeting me in about five minutes. It was SO nice to see you." She nodded politely. "Maybe I'll see you at school after Christmas." She turned on her heel, and...  
  
"Wait." Draco winced at the sound of his own voice, hoping it didn't sound too pleading.  
  
Hermione turned back.  
  
"Y-you mean you're not going to think of something to say back at me?" Draco could have kicked himself for that ridiculous question. "What I mean is," he quickly tried to correct himself, "you're not going to stand up for yourself?"  
  
Hermione shook her head, her face expressionless. "I can't be wasting my time on you Malfoy; places to go, people to see." She went to turn away again.  
  
"What you mean to say Granger," he smirked, "is that I've won."  
  
Hermione stopped mid-turn and laughed aloud. "Won?" She shook her head, laughing immoderately.  
  
"What?" Draco felt a stab of annoyance.  
  
"Malfoy, Malfoy, Malfoy," Hermione scoffed, "you have most definitely lost. Speaking of which, I'm glad you brought that up, it saves me wasting an extra words on you. You ARE lost, aren't you!"  
  
That shut him up, she thought triumphantly.  
  
After a moment's silence, Draco took a deep breath. It was no use denying it. "Try mis-apparated."  
  
Silently praying that she wouldn't laugh, he proceeded to tell her the whole story, making sure he emphasised that it really was an easy mistake to have made, and that in no way was it his fault.  
  
"You left out one vital point, Malfoy," a tiny smile played around Hermione's lips, whilst Draco gave her a questioning look.  
  
Hermione sighed. "You left out the part where you tell me that you need my help." Draco started to make a very disdainful comment, but he was stopped mid-sentence. "The way I see it Malfoy, you're pretty much screwed without my help, so you may as well get over yourself and ask nicely."  
  
"Listen Granger..." Draco scowled, "I don't need any help if you're going to be all high-and-mighty about it!"  
  
Hermione took a deep breath. "Fine then, have it your way. Good luck getting home!" She brushed past his shoulder.  
  
He grabbed her wrist. "Ok! I'm... No. Ok, look, I need your help." If Draco wasn't actually in pain, he certainly did a very good impression of it. He took a deep breath. "Please?" The word came out of his mouth as if it was burning his tongue. "You must be loving this." He muttered.  
  
Hermione laughed bitterly. "If you say so Malfoy."  
  
"HERMIONE!" A voice shrieked from behind Draco. They both spun around to see a girl racing through the crowds of people towards them  
  
"What the -" Draco started.  
  
Hermione spoke quickly. "I told you I was meeting people. Only two though." She apologetically grinned. "Umm... Could you, please, be...umm... Now how can I put this?"  
  
"Spit it out, Granger"  
  
"They're muggles. They live down my road, we've been friends for ages."  
  
"And your point is...?" Hermione sighed; he just was not getting it.  
  
"They think I go to boarding school up north."  
  
"You do." Draco glanced over at the girl, who was getting nearer.  
  
"LISTEN to me Malfoy. They DO NOT KNOW I am a witch! Understood? No funny business!" Her voice dropped to a whisper. "No magic, no talk of it - act inconspicuous... And don't call me 'Granger'."  
  
"Bloody hell you're bossy Gra- Hermione," Draco muttered. 'Hermione' sounded strange coming out of his mouth, he'd never used her name before. And after this encounter he would probably never use it again. The thought amused him.  
  
"You are on thin ice, boy! I am doing you a huge favour here, and you know it. If it comes up," Hermione threw a quick sideways glance at the girl whose distance on them was closing, "you go to school with me, and there is NOTHING out of the ORDINARY about ANYTHING that happens today, ok?!"  
  
"HERMIIIIIIONE!" The girl leapt at Hermione, pulling her into a huge hug.  
  
"LISA!" Hermione shrieked. The two girls jumped around hugging for a moment.  
  
Draco grimaced at the noise, and cringed slightly at the attention it was drawing. He smirked to himself... And she didn't think HE knew how to act inconspicuously?! 


	5. Chapter 5

It seemed like hours of jumping around and hugging before Draco's patience snapped.  
  
They look like chimpanzees, thought Draco; chimpanzees leaping with joy at the discovery of a new banana hoard. It was embarrassing. He could not understand, however, how people could just continue to walk on by as if nothing was going on.  
  
He cleared his throat loudly.  
  
The two girls broke apart. Hermione cleared her throat and looked from Draco to Lisa.  
  
"Lisa, this is Draco Malfoy - we're at school together. Draco, meet Lisa."  
  
Draco nodded.  
  
"Hi, nice to meet you." Lisa held out her hand, smiling.  
  
"Charmed." Draco spoke smoothly, not taking her hand. Impure blood.  
  
Hermione shot Draco a livid glare behind Lisa's back. Draco merely smiled, but it did not reach his eyes.  
  
Lisa uncomfortably withdrew her hand and turned to Hermione, a puzzled look suddenly coming over her face.  
  
"Herm, is he your b-" she began.  
  
"No!" Hermione retorted, a little too quickly. "He, umm, we, uhh..." Hermione racked her brains. "We have chemistry together!"  
  
Draco's left eyebrow shot up. What was she talking about? He hoped she hadn't just implied what he thought she had. There was certainly no chemistry between them; in her dreams maybe, but... But wait. Lisa had taken this comment with no problem at all. In fact, she just nodded and turned to Draco.  
  
"So, besides chemistry then, what other subjects do you take?"  
  
Draco froze. WHAT?! He had no idea how to answer this question - it had baffled him. He could hardly say Arithmancy, Herbology, Potions and Charms; Hermione would kill him. His considered this, and decided that maybe it was worth the risk. At least if he was dead he'd be out of this mess. But he decided against it, and looked to Hermione for help.  
  
Seeing his obvious distress, Hermione quickly said, "Oh, Draco does maths and physics, along with chemistry of course."  
  
"You must be well clever," Lisa's mouth dropped open, "Let me guess, another future doctor!" She laughed at her own joke.  
  
"Yes actually," Draco drawled, much to Hermione's surprise. He was playing along? She shrugged it off; of course he was playing along. It was in his best interests to do so. In seven years of knowing him, Malfoy had never done anything without an ulterior motive - there had to be something in it for him.  
  
Lisa giggled and flipped her hair behind her shoulder with a toss of her head. "I just love men in white coats..."  
  
Hermione felt queasy. That was an undeniably flirtatious comment! Lisa was flirting with Malfoy?  
  
Thinking of a few men in white coats who'd be glad to take her away, Hermione stifled a giggle as she struggled to keep a straight face, whilst at the same time ignoring the sickening fear that perhaps Lisa actually meant to flirt with that stupid blonde git.  
  
Malfoy managed an uncomfortable half-smile at Lisa. He took a moment to subtly gaze at her. What was the word he was looking for? 'Dumpy' sprang to mind. Short with what could be described politely as an overly ample frame, Lisa had shoulder-length blonde hair; except, could those dirty blonde roots and limp peroxide tips really be called blonde?  
  
Suddenly there was a noise. It was coming from Lisa. Draco jumped as her denim jacket started playing a loud tune.  
  
"Excuse me one moment." Lisa reached into a pocket and extracted a brightly coloured, hand-sized rectangular object; the noise got louder. She touched its surface and raised it to her ear. "Hello?" She turned away.  
  
Draco turned on Hermione, "what the hell...?"  
  
"Mobile phone," Hermione hissed. "Muggles use them to contact one another when they aren't at home."  
  
"Ok, listen Granger this is a little to freakish for me. I've had an idea to get me out of here anyway. Surely somewhere on this bloody street is owned by some stupid half-blood and is connected to the Floo Network... Or you could tell me how to get someplace where I can send an owl without attracting too much attention..."  
  
Draco's blood pressure was rising, he could feel it. He put a hand across his forehead and massaged his temples.  
  
"Just. Get. Me. Out. Of. Here." Every syllable was injected with resentment and, Hermione thought, maybe even some fear. It was hard to tell what Malfoy was thinking, he averted his eyes during conversation - obviously a defensive characteristic drilled into him by his strict upbringing.  
  
Hermione threw an apologetic look at Draco, and then a sideways look at Lisa, who was still chattering away on her phone. Hermione, straining her ears, managed to pick out three words from Lisa's side of the conversation: "very fit bloke". She rolled her eyes, and looked back at Draco, who was now staring at the road, apparently intrigued by the scores of cars and buses racing by.  
  
He could be almost cute at times. Not in the conventional sense, Hermione reassured herself. It was almost as if Draco was a baby dragon; rather adorable-looking when helpless, but absolutely devastatingly dangerous when he opened his mouth.  
  
"Listen Dra- Malfoy," Hermione broke the somewhat awkward silence, "I'll see what I can do. In the mean time, you're just going to have to lump this. I can't just cancel on Lisa now that she's here, and we still have to wait for Claire - that's my other friend - she'll..."  
  
"...Not be coming." Lisa interjected, evidently finished her lengthy yet quite clearly superficial phone call. "That was Claire just now. She's come down with the flu."  
  
Draco's ears perked up, "Floo?"  
  
Hermione quickly intervened. "Yes Draco, FLU... Influenza, the ILLNESS."  
  
Lisa threw Hermione an odd look, "someone's into stating the obvious."  
  
Hermione laughed uncomfortably.  
  
"So..." Lisa bit her lip. Then her face broke into a wide grin. "We're only here for one thing, Herm - how does shopping sound?"  
  
Lisa linked arms with Hermione and started off down Oxford Street. Hermione grabbed Draco by the arm, and pulled him alongside them. Hauling his arm free, he threw a disgusted look at Hermione.  
  
"Don't think of this as some sick kind of bonding experience between you and I, Granger." he hissed, "you're still a common mudblood, and you will never be anything more!"  
  
"The only thing that's sick, Malfoy," Hermione responded coolly so that Lisa couldn't hear, and hiding the gaping wound that his malicious comment had left inside her, "is you, and your pig-bloody-ignorance."  
  
Draco trailed a couple of paces behind Hermione and Lisa, with his hands in his pockets and a scowl on his almost entirely pale face. His cheeks were tinged with pink from the coldness of walking outside. He watched as Lisa and Hermione walked arm-in-arm, deep in conversation. Every so often one of the two would burst into hysterical laughter, which would immediately set the other off. This immensely annoyed Draco. This was partly due to his exclusion from the joke, and partly because he was in a foul mood, and other people's happiness did nothing but accentuate his own unhappiness.  
  
"Bloody Granger," he muttered, "and her bloody stupid fat friend..."  
  
SMACK!  
  
Lisa and Hermione had stopped to look in a shop window, and Draco being so absorbed in his own mood had failed to notice this, and had walked right into them.  
  
The display in the window caught Draco's eye straight away. He stared, captivated by its splendour. Red and gold tinsel hung from the ceiling, whilst a Christmas tree stood below, with hundreds of glowing lights cascading over every branch. It was almost magical... Then Draco remembered - it wasn't. That was the point.  
  
But it was stunning, nevertheless.  
  
Hermione looked over her shoulder at Draco, and nodded towards the door, which screamed "WELCOME TO SELFRIDGES", in the same way Next's window had done.  
  
"Coming?"  
  
With a look, which resembled that of somebody trying to withhold immense interest, Draco nodded, and followed the two girls.  
  
***  
  
Draco had never seen anything like this before. His mouth fell open in amazement. His cold cheeks were quickly warmed, and a pleasant aroma caught his attention.  
  
The shop lights were bright, and everywhere he looked there were sparkling ornaments and decorations, shop assistants dressed in red smocks with dazzling white smiles, standing by small counters, brandishing crystal bottles of clear liquid, crowds of people everywhere, yet the store's vastness still leaving enough room to move freely.  
  
"Through here." Lisa led the way, weaving in-between people and counters.  
  
"Excuse me, Sir," a polite voice rang out, as a slim woman in a black suit stepped in front of Draco, separating him from Hermione and Lisa, who continued to walk on, not realising he had been stopped.  
  
Draco glanced nervously over her shoulder, watching Hermione move further away, her figure frequently disappearing behind other people.  
  
"Sir?" Draco's attention was back on the woman in black. "Would you care to try our new fragrance?" She flaunted a pale blue, frosted glass bottle in front of his eyes. "New from Calvin Klein, especially for him. Its called ICE..." The woman, held out the bottle, and took Draco's arm in her spare hand. As she sprayed the cool liquid onto his wrist, he jumped. In the wizarding world it was not clever to let people randomly squirt liquids onto you - last time that had happened, Neville Longbottom had ended up with eight fingers on each hand and speaking nothing but Spanish for a week.  
  
The woman lifted his wrist to his nose, and motioned for him to smell.  
  
Draco cautiously inhaled. It was strong, but fragrant. Pleasantly fragrant. Draco looked up at the woman, and gave her a small smile.  
  
She was quite attractive, for a muggle that is. Dark brown hair slicked back into a ponytail, blood red lips and clear, pale skin - slim physique. Draco's eyes came to rest on the nametag on her jacket. 'Corinne' Well, not quite as elegant as her person, but that couldn't be helped...  
  
"Nice, isn't it?" Corinne smiled at Draco. "The bottle's quite attractive too... It matches your eyes." A slight blush appeared on her pale cheeks. She cleared her throat softly, "would you like to buy a some?"  
  
"Draco?!" Hermione's voice interjected, sounding slightly irate, "what's keeping you? Oh..." She politely smiled at Corinne, and then looked back at Draco. "Lisa's waiting for us upstairs."  
  
Draco threw an almost-apologetic look at Corinne, and politely declined, "No, I don't think I'll be buying any, not today anyway."  
  
She smiled her dazzling shop-assistant smile. "At least take a sample and think about it," she thrust a tiny blue bottle into his hand, and nodded, "enjoy the rest of your day, Sir."  
  
Draco walked away with Hermione. "I got caught behind... She, umm..." He was stuttering, how embarrassing.  
  
"No problems," Hermione answered, half-smiling at Draco's nervous state, "Lisa's upstairs - there's something she wanted to look at, so I left her there and came to find you."  
  
"Yeah, umm... About coming to find me..." Draco stammered, "I guess I should say thanks."  
  
Hermione looked at him, almost blankly.  
  
"You didn't have to do that, especially seeing as how rude I've been to you. I-I uhh... I suppose what I'm trying to say is that..." He took a deep breath and looked her straight in the eye, "I'm sorry."  
  
That was it, Draco decided, wishing he could disappear. She's going to laugh at me, think I'm weak... But to his surprise;  
  
"You're forgiven. If I was you, I'd be pretty scared too."  
  
"Who said anything about me being scared?"  
  
"Come off it Draco... Malfoy... Oh, whoever you are..."  
  
Hermione's voice trailed off, and they approached the escalator in silence. Draco had never seen an escalator before, and was quite reluctant to step onto a moving staircase, but he was also too curious to refuse.  
  
Hermione smiled to herself at his child-like astonishment at the simple machinations of the muggle world she had grown up with.  
  
The reached the second floor. Lisa waved at Hermione from a few metres away, and beckoned for her and Draco to join her.  
  
Hermione stifled a giggle as Draco took a step forward, and then froze in his tracks.  
  
"SECOND FLOOR - LINGERIE"  
  
"No WAY!" Draco was rooted to the spot, refusing to move.  
  
"Yes way..." Hermione laughed out loud this time, and started to walk towards Lisa.  
  
What could he do? The idea of remaining behind alone only to be commercially molested by more shop assistants filled him with even more dread than shopping with Hermione for underwear...  
  
His face as red as the famous London buses he had seen speeding by outside, Draco kept at Hermione's heel as they walked towards, what seemed like at present, his worst nightmare... 


	6. Chapter 6

If anything was to be called a test of character, this was it.  
  
Draco held his breath, and his awkwardness began to subside as he and Hermione weaved in and out of hoards of female shoppers in the lingerie department.  
  
Surely it couldn't be too bad, he thought to himself, its not like I'm actually with either of them. I'm just tagging along, and... OH MY GOD! Draco stopped dead in his tracks, a look of horror frozen on his face. Hermione also stopped sharply, a look completely blank look on her face.  
  
Lisa was standing opposite them holding up a matching bra and knickers set which was, to understate, a little on the skimpy side, and for underwear, that was certainly saying something.  
  
"What do you think, Herm?" She raved, "Gorgeous isn't it? I think I've found my Christmas present to myself!"  
  
Hermione immediately came back to life, tactfully trying to sound enthusiastic about it, but yet simultaneously trying to convince her friend to by something a little more... Suited to her figure.  
  
Draco turned a rather derisive laugh into a hacking cough. That elephant of a girl could never get away with something like that! Not that anybody would want to get under her clothes to see it in the first place. He shuddered, and then threw a glance back at Hermione, who had meanwhile managed to talk Lisa into temporarily putting down the two-piece set, and had was now chattering on about the benefits of satin nightgowns, and how much more flattering they were.  
  
Lisa, however, had stopped listening. Something else had caught her eye. Draco dreaded to think...  
  
"Ooh, Hemione - these are perfect for you!"  
  
Hermione took one look at what Lisa was holding up, and burst out laughing. Lisa was holding up a minute pair of pyjamas, still on their display hangar. The top was a delicate sheet of black, silk chiffon, with tiny silver and red jewels sewn on in clusters, from which two thin shoulder straps protruded. The bottoms were a pair of black silk shorts, barely long enough to pass as anything but hotpants, exhibiting the same tasteful red and silver jewel clusters.  
  
"Really..." Hermione began, trying to keep a straight face.  
  
"No, I'm being serious," Lisa continued. "These are stunning! I've SEEN your taste in pyjamas, and I KNOW that you could do with these!"  
  
Hermione threw her a sceptical look.  
  
"Look, you go to a MIXED boarding school! The guys must see you in pyjamas all the time! And these," she added, with a cheeky grin, "will really make them sit up and pay attention!" She paused. "Don't you think, Draco?"  
  
"I- I... Umm..." At a loss for words, if Draco had felt embarrassed before, it was nothing compared to this. The thought of Hermione in those... Well, it was understandable that a dark crimson flush crept up his neck to his face, spreading over his cheeks and he could almost feel the heat radiating off him.  
  
Hermione was also looking uncomfortable. Her face was considerably pinker than usual, and she stared pointedly at the ground.  
  
"Leave it out Lisa," she muttered.  
  
"Not until I get an answer from your friend here." She smirked at Draco. "C'mon kid, admit it; she'd look good."  
  
Draco was at a loss for words for one of the very few times in his life. It wasn't that he didn't know what to say, it was just that he couldn't say it.  
  
"Actually Lisa, I think your mud-blooded friend would look as minging as a dead dog in that..." He couldn't see it going down too well, but then again, neither could he say, "PHWOAR, yes! Give me some of that semi-naked Hermione, baby!"  
  
Draco shrugged the question off. It was definitely the easier option.  
  
Lisa seemed to accept this as being the end of a conversation.  
  
"Yeah, I'm going to go and pay for these now." She gestured towards both the modest nightgown and the skimpy underwear set. Obviously Hermione's job of convincing her not to buy it, had not been quite as successful as she had hoped it would be.  
  
Lisa walked over to the cashier's desk. There was a queue, and she tapped her foot impatiently as a middle-aged woman unloaded about twenty different items of underwear onto the cash desk.  
  
Draco avoided Hermione's gaze for a while; she did the same to him. Lisa's comment had obviously stirred up an awkward aura in the air, and both of them were feeling the heat of its blow.  
  
Hermione was the first to break the silence.  
  
"I'm sorry about that. She gets carried away sometimes, you know, with being silly... There was nothing in that, really... Not that I'm saying you thought that there was anyway, but..."  
  
Completely tongue-tied, Hermione cut her explanation short.  
  
"Granger," Malfoy's voice had returned to its usual smooth nature, "you're babbling."  
  
Hermione scowled, her defensive shields immediately popping up again.  
  
"No need to be rude Malfoy, I didn't see you looking too cool and collected when she started off about my potential scantily-clad... ness..." Another sentence messed up - it was not like Hermione to lose her ability to verbally communicate. Draco was rather amused.  
  
It was sweet, in a rather bizarre way. It reminded him of Pansy Parkinson in fourth year trying to ask him to be her dance partner for the Tri-Wizard Yule Ball. She had danced around the subject for at least ten minutes before it even became properly apparent what she was trying to say to him. She had then, for a short time, forgotten how to speak English, or at least how to string simple, grammatically accurate sentences together. He shuddered, Pansy was a complete witch - obviously in the literal sense, but also in the metaphorical sense.  
  
"I wasn't." Draco drawled back. "Why are you so defensive the whole time, mudblood? What, do you think I bite or something?"  
  
"YOU DO!" Hermione almost exploded, her voice positively drenched with sarcasm. "Everything you say is 'mudblood'-this and 'common as muck'-that. To be quite frank Malfoy, you're a pain in the arse and if I could whip out my flaming wand," Hermione's voice dropped to an fuming whisper, "trust me, you'd be back at your bloody Manner before you could even SAY 'mudblood'..."  
  
Draco's mouth had dropped open in shock. He was staring at Hermione with astonishment, quite obviously stunned into silent stupor that she had raised her voice to him - usually her stupid friends were the ones who wasted their breath in sticking up for her.  
  
"Know something Malfoy?" Hermione started a new sentence, her ability to speak fully returned to her, and a dangerous mood hanging in the air. "I hate you. No, hate doesn't even cover it - I absolutely DETEST you! You make me sick; your voice, your personality, your entire SELF makes me want to retch! You are a horrible person. In fact, I almost feel SORRY for you, because if anybody does give out the illusion of liking you, it's certainly just your money they're after!"  
  
She turned on her heel, and started to stalk off. Draco grabbed her arm, his eyes blazing with anger.  
  
"How DARE you!" He hissed. "You-" He didn't get the chance to finish his sentence, because Hermione interrupted, her eyes depicting not only pure fury, but also hurt.  
  
"I have gone out of my way to help you today, and you've shown me next to NO respect for it. The way you treat me, you don't deserve any help at all." She threw a disgusted look at his hand gripping her arm. "Get the hell off of me!"  
  
Lisa rejoined them, clasping a pink bag. "Well team," she grinned, brandishing her bag, clearly proud of her purchases, "are we ready to go?"  
  
Her face still red, Hermione swallowed hard and blinked back her frustration. "Yeah, sure." She stalked off towards the toy department; a huge red and green illuminated sign marked its presence.  
  
"Flipping hell, what did you say to her?" Lisa's face was full of concern, her voice almost accusing.  
  
"Don't ask." Draco mumbled.  
  
What on earth was wrong with him? He was feeling very strange subsequent to Hermione's ranting session. The pit of his stomach felt empty, and ached. The back of his throat was dry, and overall he had a general feeling of almost nausea. Then it hit him - this must be guilt! Draco had never felt guilty before, and to say he didn't like it was an understatement. Having been brought up in a family where apologies were nonexistent, because one should never be doing anything that should require an apology, thus provoking guilt, could have been part of the reason for this.  
  
Lisa gave Draco a cold stare, and marched off to join Hermione.  
  
Hermione, meanwhile, was feeling equally uncomfortable for flying off the handle at Draco. It wasn't really his fault he was an arrogant, pig-headed git, too afraid of his own father to ever go against those ridiculous 'Malfoy Family Rules' he had been brought up alongside, perhaps to find out that they might be wrong.  
  
Lisa caught up with Hermione, and started prattling on about how "boys are stupid" and "ignore him, he's a pratt". Hermione stopped listening. Lisa tended to go off on a tangent sometimes, and Hermione was usually unable to get a word in edgeways. So she took a moment to think to herself, occasionally nodding and expressing the odd "mm-hmm", sporadically in places where Lisa took a breath of air.  
  
***  
  
The toy department of Selfridges was fantastic. Lisa and Hermione's eyes widened as they entered. The way in which young, and some not-so-young (scores of fathers were huddled around the fantastic electric train-set in one corner of the room) children were bustling around made it almost like Father Christmas' Grotto come alive.  
  
Speaking of which, Santa's Grotto was open to the public. Three teenagers, two boys and a girl, dressed in red and green suits, with toy reindeer antlers or Santa hats on their heads, were hopping around the room enthusiastically encouraging children and their parents to visit the temporarily-built, fairy-light encrusted cabin in the centre of the room.  
  
One of the boys approached Hermione and Lisa, readjusting his hat to cover as much of his floppy black hair as possible. He cheekily grinned as it fell to the side, and he flicked his hair out of his eyes.  
  
"Good morning ladies, welcome to Lapland." He winked.  
  
Lisa giggled; Hermione managed a half-smile.  
  
The boy continued. "You look like you've been good girls this year. How would you like to visit Father Christmas this year? It never hurts to get your application for a good gift in early!"  
  
Hermione laughed at the boy's good-natured joke.  
  
"I don't think so somehow... Surely we're a bit too old..."  
  
"Too old?!" The boy looked at her in mock outrage. "Don't be so ridiculous! You're never too old for Father Christmas! Anyway, for today only it's free to see him. Special Selfridges Christmas offer... It can't hurt!" He smiled at them again. "Go on..."  
  
"Oh come on Herm, it'll be fun!" She batted her eyelashes at Santa's elf with the floppy black hair.  
  
Hermione smiled. "Ok then... But I suppose we should bring Malf- Draco, even..."  
  
"I thought you weren't speaking to..." Lisa looked confused.  
  
"Oh," a cheeky grin appeared on Hermione's face. "He'll hate this, so trust me, I'm not making him come in out of niceness!"  
  
The two girls giggled nastily and caught Draco's eye. Lisa beckoned him over with her finger.  
  
What did they want now? Draco cautiously walked over. He was not in the mood to be shouted at in stereo by two girls. But wait, they didn't look angry. In fact, they looked as though they were up to something, which was almost worse.  
  
"We're going to Santa's Grotto." Lisa commented.  
  
"Oh really, how thoroughly exhilarating for you." The sarcastic words rolled off of his tongue before his brain could counteract them.  
  
Hermione sneered back, almost automatically. "Don't gloat Malfoy, you're coming with us. I'm looking forward to hearing you tell Santa what a good boy you've been this year!" 


	7. Chapter 7

Draco was horror-struck.  
  
Draco Malfoy, sit on Santa's knee, and tell him what he wanted for Christmas? Not likely. It was not going to happen, and Draco opened his mouth to vehemently object, but to no avail. He caught Hermione's eye, and felt a sickening concern in the pit of his stomach that if he didn't do this, he would be finding his own way home. His eyes dropped to the ground.  
  
The bargain was made - Draco's humiliation in return for the anger he had caused Hermione.  
  
They joined the queue.  
  
There were children everywhere, all around them. If it wasn't "Mummy, can I have this?" it was "Will you tell Father Christmas how good I've been? He might not believe me!" Draco looked at his surroundings, taking a moment to properly take in the people crowded around him.  
  
There was something about the children, something in their faces. It was almost as if they had a glow to them, like angels. And coming from Draco, who did everything in his power to avoid small children believing them to be as aggravating as the result of undiluted Bubotuber pus upon skin, that was saying something. Perhaps it was in the pinkness of their cheeks, or the huge smiles plastered across their little round faces as they raced around crashing into their parents at top speed, just so excited at the prospect of...  
  
"Christmas." Hermione spoke softly, reading Draco's mind.  
  
He looked at her, stunned. "How did you..."  
  
"How did I what? Know what you were thinking?" Hermione gazed innocently into his eyes. She looked away and laughed. "I have my ways, Draco." Her voice became even softer. "You know, you're not as difficult to read as you like people to think."  
  
Queuing up to see Father Christmas seemed an oddly inappropriate place to remain in silence, especially seeing as the threesome were surrounded by a highly animated crowd, but Draco was grateful for it. He wasn't quite sure what to say to Hermione after that. And he hadn't been sure of what to say to Lisa since meeting her. He was still feeling strangely uncomfortable in this muggle environment, despite having spent the last couple of hours trying to take his mind off of it. He used the time to reassure himself that everything would be fine; he would get home, he would go back to hating Hermione, his father would laugh the whole incident off...  
  
Just a minute, who was he kidding? Draco swallowed hard. His father would go absolutely mental when he got home. Not only had he failed his Apparating Test, a thought that had actually slipped his mind since meeting Hermione, but he had not even come home straight away after doing so. The thought of admitting failure to his own father filled Draco with immense dread.  
  
Then another thought struck him. Go back to hating Hermione? When had he ever stopped hating her? And when had he started calling Granger 'Hermione' in his head? In fact, why was she even in his head at all?  
  
This is ridiculous, Draco thought to himself, you're being irrational. He suffocated the questioning voice inside his head, and started to think about Quidditch... It was a lot less complicated.  
  
"Oooh, we're next!" Lisa giggled, excitedly. Hermione looked up, startled. It seemed to Draco that she had been doing something thinking of her own. He glanced over his shoulder - quite a line had built up behind them. The teenage elves were over in the corner of the room, sitting on toy boxes covered in fluffy white fake-snow. They were taking a well-deserved break, fanning themselves with their hats and removing their curly-toed green shoes. Being festive had the downside of also being thoroughly exhausting.  
  
Another 'elf' emerged from Santa's grotto.  
  
"Welcome to Santa's Grotto!" He smirked at Lisa, Hermione and Draco. "I see our elves," he nodded towards the three exhausted teenagers in the corner, "haven't let a single person slip through without meeting the big man..."  
  
He opened a small silver gate, "come on in, straight through and first turning on the left."  
  
The three of them wandered onwards, down a small corridor, whilst the elf closed the gate behind them, striking up a new and rather sycophantic conversation with a haggard looking mother-of-two behind them.  
  
The floor of the cabin was covered by about two inches of fake snow. Draco wondered why there would ever be snow INSIDE a house, but he ignored his urge to make one of his usual sarcastic comments. There were fairy lights all over the ceiling, and models of elves, reindeer and gift-boxes wrapped in sparkling paper and satin bows all along the side of the corridor.  
  
They turned left into a small room.  
  
"Santa!" Lisa cried.  
  
A padded man in a white fur-trimmed red suit sat on a silver throne in the centre of the room, accompanied by two more adolescent elves, who both looked as bored as a plank of wood, and looked as though they had the combined IQ between them, of the same plank of wood.  
  
"Ho ho ho!" The man winked at her. "Welcome to my humble abode my dear. Come and sit on my knee." He gestured, and winked again.  
  
Lisa shyly stepped forward and sat gingerly on his knee.  
  
"What is your name? And dare I ask, have you been a good girl?"  
  
Lisa giggled. "I'm Lisa. And as a matter of fact, I have." She smiled at Santa. "I've been very good." She winked back at him. "In fact, I've even managed to make my own bed to help my mummy out every day."  
  
"Excellent, excellent." Father Christmas laughed heartily. "In that case, Lisa, I will be sure to pay your house a visit on Christmas Eve. But first, you'll have to tell me what it is you'd most like me to deliver."  
  
Lisa thought for a moment, and then said in a stage whisper. "It's not really for me, and it's not really a present. Can I still ask?" She grinned mischievously.  
  
"Of course." He motioned for her to continue.  
  
Lisa's voice dropped to a whisper, and she cupped her hand to Father Christmas' ear. His eyes widened, and his brow furrowed. He cast a gaze over at Hermione, and then looked to Draco before staring straight ahead again, looking pensive.  
  
"Right... Mm-hmm..." He stroked his beard and drew away. "Is that all?"  
  
Lisa nodded, still smiling.  
  
"Well young lady, I'll see what I can do." She jumped off of his lap, and dusted some fake snow off of her jacket sleeves. "In the meantime, keep making your bed." He winked again, and then reached into a sack at the foot of his throne. "And have a very Merry Christmas, Lisa." He handed her a small, wrapped package. "Here's a little something for the time being."  
  
"Thank you!" Lisa smiled and skipped off, and waited by the door marked exit in glowing green letters for her two companions.  
  
Hermione was next. She tentatively walked towards Santa, and sat, as Lisa had done, on his lap.  
  
"Well, well," he chuckled, "another pretty girl..." Hermione blushed slightly, Draco smirked to himself.  
  
He asked the same questions as he had done to Lisa. Hermione obediently answered.  
  
"I'm Hermione. I think I've been a good girl, I've certainly done all my homework on time this year." She looked down and flushed when answering the question 'and did you get good marks?' "I came top..."  
  
"A clever one..." Santa nodded towards his elves, who sent forced grins back to him. "And what would you like for Christmas?"  
  
Hermione answered almost on cue. "Its also not for me. But it would be a gift. In fact, I think it would almost be a dream come true..." Her voice trailed off as Santa took in what she was saying.  
  
"Yes..."  
  
"Well, it's for a friend of mine." She looked at Draco, and without taking her eyes off him, she continued. "I want him to ..." She stopped. "I'm sorry, that was rather strange. Forget it." She laughed nervously. "Just bring me a Magic-8 Ball and I'll be fine!" And with that, she too hopped off the red-suited lap.  
  
He held up his hand. "Don't worry Hermione, I will do my best to make sure your 'friend', no matter who he is," for a split second, Draco was sure Santa's eyes flickered towards him, but he couldn't be sure, "will have something to look forward to this year." He reached into the same bag, and pulled out a small pink parcel. "Here you go, something for the train home. Merry Christmas!"  
  
Hermione smiled and thanked him, before joining Lisa by the exit sign.  
  
"Good day, young man." The repeated gesture to sit on his knee was back.  
  
"Umm..." Draco held up his hands, "I- I think I'll pass."  
  
Hermione and Lisa threw him a look, which he pointedly ignored.  
  
"Don't be silly." Santa gave a good-natured laugh. "Sit down! There's nobody here to laugh, and besides," his round, amiable face beamed, "I want to know about what a good boy you've been."  
  
Reluctantly, Draco took a step forward and sat on his lap. He was blushing again, and made a point of ignoring the girls' giggling to the left of him.  
  
"Now, that wasn't so hard, was it? What would your name be?"  
  
"Draco." Draco felt particularly uneasy. Here he was, a 17 year old boy sitting on Father Christmas' lap about to discuss how GOOD he had been, and what presents he wanted thrown down his chimney on Christmas Eve. It was almost laughable. In fact, if it had been anybody but himself, and he had been the one watching, Draco would have been on the floor laughing.  
  
"And have you been good this year?"  
  
"Not really." Draco drawled, carelessly. "I haven't been nice, I haven't done anything good. And quite frankly," he added quite rudely, "I'm not so sure I care."  
  
"That is sad..." Santa's face fell, his fake white beard sagging off his face. He obviously hadn't planned for that. Answering to discourteous teenagers had obviously not been mentioned in the job-description. After a moment's thought, he recovered from the obstacle Draco had placed in front of him.  
  
"But nevertheless, Christmas is a time for joy, and I, being so jolly and festive," he then threw in a 'ho ho ho', to prove this point, "am in a forgiving mood."  
  
He laughed, nervously this time.  
  
"So what would you like to find in your stocking on Christmas this year?"  
  
Draco laughed coldly. "A broomstick."  
  
"A...broomstick?" He was confused.  
  
"Yes," Draco said, matter-of-factly, "A broomstick. Preferably a Firebolt, but I'd be satisfied with the new Nimbus."  
  
'Santa' was looking highly confused but nevertheless nodded, pretending to have half a clue about what Draco was saying. He clearly thought the blonde- haired boy on his knee was very peculiar, but not nearly as peculiar as he was rude. Draco enjoyed his bewilderment and took the opportunity to stand up.  
  
"Yes, well," Santa Claus spoke quickly, stroking his beard. "I'll, umm, see what I can, uh, do." He smiled at Draco, but there was definitely no feelings of well-wishing behind that expression.  
  
"Have a VERY merry Christmas, Mr. Claus," Draco's voice was smooth, with a tinge of ice in it. "I'll be sure to look out for you and Rudolph on Christmas Eve!"  
  
He calmly walked to the exit, taking no notice of the stunned looks Hermione and Lisa gave him. He politely held open the door for the two of them, nodded frostily towards a somewhat bemused Father Christmas, and followed the girls back out into the colourful set of the toy department.  
  
***  
  
As soon as they were outside the grotto, Lisa looked at Draco with dislike.  
  
"How rude are you?" She asked, rhetorically.  
  
Hermione looked at him with the same disgust, but there was a slight twinkle in her eye. Trying desperately not to smile, she stood on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear, "I'll give you a bloody broomstick!"  
  
He grinned.  
  
Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Could you have hated that ANY more?"  
  
"Do you even have to ask?"  
  
"You daft sausage..." Hermione joked, "Where's your sense of childhood fun?"  
  
Draco looked at her in full seriousness. "I don't have one."  
  
"Well, by the end of this shopping trip you will!" Lisa interrupted, linking arms with Draco. "What do you say we show Draco how to be a real kid, Herm?"  
  
Hermione looked at Lisa, and then at Draco. She looked up at him, uncertainly, linking her arm with his free one, nervous that maybe he might pull away in repulsion; he didn't.  
  
Hermione smiled. "I couldn't think of a better way to spend the rest of today." 


	8. Chapter 8

Draco was starting to feel hungry. It had been hours since he had eaten anything, and one piece of toast was hardly enough to sustain him through such an exhausting ordeal as he had been through. It didn't help that the store restaurant was on the same floor, adjacent to the toy department, and appetising aromas were wafting his way, teasing his stomach.  
  
Fortunately, they seemed to be having an effect on Lisa too. "Can we get some food?" She grinned. "I'm starving!"  
  
"I was just thinking that," Hermione said, thoughtfully. "But it's expensive here. Can we go somewhere else?"  
  
Lisa's eyes lit up. "I know just the place! Lets get out of here."  
  
"Quickest way back down?" Hermione's eyes flicked towards the overcrowded escalators.  
  
"C'mon, lets take the lift. There's practically nobody waiting." Lisa strained her neck to see across to the lift area. She started to walk, beckoning for Hermione and Draco to follow her.  
  
"Lift?" Draco looked to Hermione in confusion.  
  
Hermione laughed. "I forget how vulnerable you really are, Draco." She cleared her throat. "It's basically like a box on a bit of string, which moves people between floors instead of them having to walk up and down the stairs."  
  
"A box?" A slight look of concern flashed across Draco's face. He didn't like the idea of being trapped in a human-size box. He had taken Hermione's description quite literally, imagining 'the bit of string' to be quite literally one regular piece of string, when in reality, not to his knowledge, numerous thick metal cables would be supporting him.  
  
The concern was quickly replaced with a sneer. "This is why our kind are better. We can just apparatus in-between floors!" He bit his lip, realising he had left himself open to a sarcastic attack from Hermione, and held his breath, waiting for it to come flying back in his face.  
  
It didn't come.  
  
Instead they followed Lisa towards the lifts in silence. Then Hermione softly asked:  
  
"Our kind, Draco?" She looked at him, almost amused, "Since when do you and I fall into the same category? I'm a mudblood, or had you forgotten?"  
  
Draco opened his mouth to respond, but his own big mouth had cornered him. Unable to think up a cutting, witty response, he just shrugged his shoulders and quickened his pace.  
  
Hermione grinned to herself, and she too quickened her pace to keep up.  
  
Lisa was waiting at the lifts. Draco assumed that she had already called the lift, because soon after their arrival, there was a melodious chime, and two doors opened in front of him. Lisa and Hermione casually walked into the small box, followed reluctantly by Draco, who looked around suspiciously, and went to stand in the corner.  
  
Apart from them, the lift was empty. It was rather cosy for a moving box, Draco thought. There was a mirror on the back wall, and the sidewalls were decorated with... carpet. Draco didn't even bother asking; all he knew was that was since today, muggles had only become an even stranger race than he had first imagined. The Christmas spirit has certainly been captured as well. There were colourful fairy lights strung all over the ceiling.  
  
Whoa! Draco's stomach went as the lift began to move downwards. He gripped a bar on the wall in shock. Lisa was facing the doors and humming along to the melody of a song being played in the background. Hermione, however, who was standing next to him, noticed his panic. She moved a side step closer to him, and squeezed his free hand. "It's fine," she whispered, giving him a reassuring smile.  
  
The lift jolted to a stop. "First Floor - Perfume and Make-Up, store's main exit. Please mind the doors!" A mechanical woman's voice rang out, drowning out the background music. The doors opened. Hermione pulled her hand away from Draco's, and followed Lisa out of the lift. Draco pursued, pushing past the mob of shoppers trying to get into the lift.  
  
They left Selfridges, with Lisa fervently voicing her opinion on why A- Levels should be categorised as child abuse, and Hermione desperately arguing for the motion that "exams really aren't all that bad" and that "school really is beneficial in the long term".  
  
Draco laughed to himself, and ran a hand through his tousled blonde hair. She really did love school. Admittedly she loved a different kind of school to the one Lisa was complaining about, but she loved it nevertheless. Draco had never felt particularly passionate about his education, but sadly he had never really had anything to be passionate about. Except maybe Quidditch.  
  
Since being introduced to Quidditch in a competitive environment, namely the Slytherin House team, in second year, Draco had certainly moved up in the world. He had been made captain of the Slytherin team in fifth year, a duty he took very seriously. He played as Seeker, in constant competition with that blasted Harry Potter. Perfect Potter... Harry was captain of the Gryffindor team, and also played as Seeker. What made it worse was that he was the best, there was no use in denying the fact. But anyway, Quidditch... It was what Draco lived for. The feel of the wind blowing through his hair, and the elation of being so high above everything; so far from his worries, his problems, his fears...  
  
Draco shook himself from his daydream and frowned. It was ironic that he was afraid of a lift, an enclosed box that was actually attached to something, when he seemed to spend most of his time plummeting towards the ground in pursuit of a tiny gold ball, whilst balancing on a wooden stick.  
  
Draco had forgotten he was walking along, and crashed into Lisa and Hermione for the second time that day, as they stopped outside another building.  
  
"Mc Donald's?" Draco read the sign out loud.  
  
Hermione quickly went to cover up his question, but Lisa had managed to miss the real meaning behind Draco's question.  
  
"Yeah, that's ok for you isn't it? Oh, I'm so rude. You're not vegetarian, are you?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Good." Lisa smiled, and looked at Hermione. "Good service, good food... Mmm!"  
  
From her face, Hermione obviously thought otherwise, but she was hungry and couldn't be bothered to argue. As they walked into Mc Donald's, Hermione looked at Draco and said quietly, "Look, I know you don't have any money. I'll buy you lunch. You can't go hungry."  
  
"Don't do me any favours." Draco muttered, almost under his breath. He had never been out of money before, and his current hard-up situation clearly embarrassed him. He raised his voice, assuming a conceited tone, "now I know what it must feel like to be a Weasley."  
  
Hermione felt a pang of anger, but chose to ignore it. Instead, she gritted her teeth and went to queue with Lisa at the service desks at the back of the restaurant.  
  
The lines weren't long, and the staff worked quickly. It was soon their turn.  
  
"Hi, can I help you?" The energetic server asked.  
  
"Stupid question really." Draco muttered in Hermione's ear, as the maroon and yellow clad girl took Lisa's order. "I wonder what she'd say if you told her that no, she couldn't help you, and you were gonna take a flying leap as a result of the matter..."  
  
Hermione burst into a fit of giggles. Draco laughed at his own joke, and at Hermione's insane response. He had never seen her laugh like that before. Now that was definitely cute. He didn't bother to argue himself out of this frame of mind. What does it matter, he thought. Nobody can see into my head.  
  
Lisa looked over her shoulder. "Eat-in or takeaway?"  
  
Draco looked at her blankly.  
  
"Takeaway!" Hermione quickly answered. "That way we can shop whilst we eat."  
  
"And burn off the Maccy D's calories too!" Lisa winked, and turned back to her order.  
  
Draco opened his mouth to make a comment, but Hermione thrust her index finger to his lips. "Don't even say it!" There was a familiar twinkle in her eye although she was trying her hardest to keep a straight face.  
  
"I'll wait outside for you guys." Lisa smiled, grasping a brown paper bag and sipping from a large paper cup.  
  
Hermione nodded, and moved forward.  
  
"Hi, can I help you?" Draco rolled his eyes. Didn't this girl have anything more exciting to say?  
  
"Yes." Hermione looked up at the menu. "I'll take... two chicken nugget happy meals and..." She looked at Draco. "What do you want to drink?"  
  
"Surprise me."  
  
Hermione rolled her eyes in an exasperated manner, and turned back to the server. "And two regular Diet Cokes. Oh, that's to take away."  
  
Draco watched as the girl behind the counter confidently punched buttons on her cash register, and turned around to grab little boxes from behind her. She filled up two paper cups, capped them, and handed them to Hermione along with the food.  
  
"That will be..." She punched some more buttons. "£5.50 please."  
  
Hermione opened her wallet, and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and a small seven-sided silver disc. She handed it over to the girl, and smiled. "Thanks." She handed Draco a cup, and a box, and then picked up her own, ushering him towards the door.  
  
For a moment Draco stood still, staring into space. Hermione elbowed him gently in the ribs.  
  
"What are you doing? You look like you're contemplating life, the universe and everything..."  
  
"Oh" Draco blushed slightly. "Its nothing... Ok, it is kind of. I was just thinking..." He fell silent.  
  
Kind heartedly, Hermione elbowed him again. "Yes, I know that doesn't happen very often." She winked. "What about?"  
  
Silence.  
  
"Its just... Well, you really have gone out of your way to be nice to me today. You could have just left me to find my own way home, and let's face it," he laughed, "if you'd done that, I'd be screwed."  
  
Hermione smiled, and looked at the floor, obviously embarrassed by Draco's outburst. She almost preferred him when he was being a rude git, at least she knew what to say to him then. He continued,  
  
"I've insulted you, I've been rude... In fact, I've been downright horrible to be honest. If I'd been in your position, I wouldn't have done what you have... What I'm trying to say is that..." He took a deep breath. "You're a much bigger person than me."  
  
Hermione looked up again, her face pink. She smiled at Draco, and started moving towards the door. "Thank you. It means a lot to me for you to say that."  
  
***  
  
Lunch was eaten on a bench by the side of the road. Draco's inclusion in the conversation was minimal. Whilst Lisa and Hermione gossiped avidly about mutual friends, Draco enjoyed his first ever Happy Meal. He wasn't too impressed with the chicken nuggets, finding them to be rather leathery, but he was somewhat dazed by the talent muggles had for cooking chips! Adora was a pretty good cook, but she couldn't make chips like this! Even the elves at Hogwarts didn't make 'em this good!  
  
He also developed quite a liking for Coca Cola. Having been subject to years of drinking butterbeer at Hogwarts and fresh fruit juice at home, it was quite a change to be able to knock back a fizzy drink. The caffeine had a positive effect as well; Draco had never felt so alert in his life, as he gulped the cold drink, quenching his thirst.  
  
But most of all, he was intrigued by the free toy that came with the meal. The label read, 'Furby'. What the HELL was that when it was at home? He ripped open the plastic packet and his eyes met with two big plastic ones staring back at him. It was small and covered in green and white fur, reminiscent of Slytherin colours, Draco was amused to see. Under the fur, Draco could feel it was hard. He prodded it in the stomach.  
  
"Lets play!"  
  
Draco jumped, as a small electronic came from the toy. He pressed it again.  
  
"She sells sea shells on the sea shore..."  
  
The creature recited the tongue twister, much to Draco's delight.  
  
"Hey," Hermione tapped him on the shoulder, and handed him her toy - also a Furby, but with pink and purple fur. "Push their feet together, they talk to one another."  
  
Draco looked at her in disbelief as she went back to her conversation with Lisa. He held the two toys together. To his astonishment, they did talk to one another.  
  
"Hello. Will you be my friend?" Draco's green furby initiated the dialogue.  
  
"I like making friends!"  
  
"I love you!"  
  
"Love makes the world go round."  
  
Admittedly it was a dialogue so sweet it could make a Care Bear sick, but Draco was enthralled. He had never seen such odd toys before, and was nothing short of curious.  
  
Out of the corner of her eye Hermione was watching Draco's child-like excitement build over such an insignificant inanimate object. Lisa kept talking, oblivious to the fact Hermione had stopped listening. Hermione kept her gaze subtly locked on Draco's face, for just like the children shopping for toys, it had its own brilliant glow to it. 


	9. Chapter 9

Having finished lunch, the three teenagers rejoined the masses of people hurrying along London's busiest shopping street. Whilst Hermione and Lisa continued to chat between themselves, Draco took the opportunity to analyse his surroundings, getting a superlative view of muggle culture.  
  
He was beginning to understand how it was possible to live without magic; how electricity compensated for those little charms he was so used to at home. For example, Hermione had insisted on dragging Lisa and Draco into an electrical hardware store, because she was in desperate need of new batteries. Surreptitiously, she had later explained to Draco that batteries were small, power-containing cylinders that were necessary to make things work - usually portable appliances, such as travel hairdryers, Walkmans and electronic games. In the same store, Draco had become particularly smitten with a muggle plaything, according to Hermione especially popular with boys, called Nintendo 64. He found the concept of sitting in the comfort of one's own living room whilst simultaneously being able to race around a car track, or battle a dragon to win gold coins without the risk of having your arm burnt off, thoroughly thrilling.  
  
This minor obsession had not caused any confusion to Lisa. As far as she was concerned, boys were allowed to be fanatical about video games. It was only when Draco developed an unusual fixation with the microwave that she turned to Hermione in confusion.  
  
"Does Draco live in some sort of," she paused, thinking for the right word, "cave?"  
  
Hermione almost choked on her own laughter. If only Lisa knew how far from the truth she really was.  
  
"Its just that," she gazed at Draco, "He seems so enthralled by the slightest little things. First the Furby, and now a microwave?!" She shook her head. "It can't be normal."  
  
Hermione gulped. Lisa was starting to suspect that something was amiss. She quickly responded. "No, its nothing. He's just one of those blokes who gets easily sucked into the wonders of technology. There are loads of them about. All you have to do is look at anybody who studies computer science at university to understand that..."  
  
Lisa cut her short. "Yes Hermione, but computers I can understand. They actually do something exciting. There's the Internet, mp3s, fantastic graphical advances. That, however, is a microwave. What could possibly be so great about it?"  
  
Hermione looked at Draco, who was surveying the microwave in great detail, seemingly awestruck that anything could possibly have been invented for such a mundane task as heating food. Why, surely all it took was a flick of the wrist and the right charm... Or, Draco thought with a grimace, a rather neurotic house-elf.  
  
"I think two and a half minutes for a jacket potato and cheese is pretty great, don't you?" Hermione tried to cover up with a forced laugh.  
  
Lisa wasn't buying it.  
  
"No, there's something about him. Draco, I mean." She narrowed her eyes. "Something strange..."  
  
She quickly turned to Hermione.  
  
"But don't get me wrong, I'm not insulting your friend." Lisa said quickly; Hermione covered a derisive laugh with a coughing fit. "It just seems like he's living in some sort of time warp when it comes to technology." She shrugged it off. "Never mind though, he definitely makes up for it in the looks department... Don't you think?" Hermione's eyes widened. "Well, don't you think so?"  
  
"I don't think we should be discussing this."  
  
"Why not? C'mon, you can barely deny it. He's got a certain air to him."  
  
"More like a stench than an air..."  
  
"Ok, so from what I've seen you two argue a lot. But seriously, look beyond it a second. I know we've never really seen eye-to-eye about men, but wake UP! He's so fit! Have you even seen his eyes?"  
  
Hermione laughed. She might have known that was coming. Lisa had a special talent for liking anything in trousers, but Draco Malfoy? He wasn't in the slightest bit attractive. She threw Lisa a sceptical look, but then sneakily glanced at Draco over her shoulder. His hair wasn't too bad, Hermione thought. Since first year it had evolved from its slicked back silver-blonde state, and was now worn in a short style, which looked constantly ruffled. It was slightly darker blonde too. Definitely an improvement from that almost greasy effect he used to achieve so well. His dress-sense, muggle-wise, was pretty sharp - Calvin Klein definitely had a desirable effect on him. But it was his eyes where any real attraction would lie, Lisa was right about that. They were silver-blue and incredibly bright.  
  
"The eyes are the windows to the soul." Hermione mumbled one of her favourite quotes aloud. She shook her head sadly. "The only soul he ever shows is nasty..."  
  
Lisa sighed. "Pity."  
  
The two girls looked at each other before bursting into a fit side- splitting laughter.  
  
"What's funny?" Draco had torn himself away from the wondrous microwave, and was looking from Hermione to Lisa with a expression of perplexity drawn across his face.  
  
The two girls both took a deep breath, as if they were about to say something... However, not in the mood to be serious, they exploded into giggles again.  
  
Draco rolled his eyes in mock disgust. "Girls!"  
  
A familiar electronic tune rang out from Lisa's jacket again. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her mobile phone, raising it to her ear.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
Draco and Hermione listened intently to her end of the conversation.  
  
"What, now? But Mum..."  
  
There was a pause.  
  
"Uh huh, Herm's fine... But that's not..."  
  
Lisa rolled her eyes at Hermione made a rude gesture at the receiver end of her phone. Her voice changed from a complaining whine to an emotionless, resigned tone.  
  
"Yes, ok then. Fine... Bye."  
  
She put her phone back into her pocket, and turned back to Hermione and Draco looking solemn.  
  
"I hate to do this to you guys, but I have to go." She smiled apologetically. "My mum's blown a fuse because apparently I'm meant to be babysitting my sisters today. The parental units are meant to being going out in half an hour, so I'm going to have to leave pronto."  
  
"Its ok." Hermione nodded in sympathetic understanding. "You're ok with getting back alone? I know we planned to get home together..."  
  
Lisa waved her hand absent-mindedly. "It's fine. I'm not a baby." She grinned, and then pulled Hermione into a hug. "I'll give you a call tomorrow, ok? We'll go to the cinema or something..." Hermione nodded, and grinned back, before suddenly something came to mind.  
  
"Before you go, I have to ask you something." Hermione almost whispered.  
  
"Go ahead."  
  
"What did you ask Santa for?"  
  
Lisa beamed mischievously. "That's for me to know, and..." She rolled her eyes at Hermione's pleading expression. "Ok, ok... How about I text it to you later?" She tapped the pocket in which her mobile phone was concealed and winked.  
  
Hermione grinned. "Deal."  
  
Lisa glanced at her watch and went slightly white. "I have got to get a move on. Bye Herm! Nice to meet you Draco!" And with that, she raced off towards Oxford Circus Station, marked by its large red and blue London Underground logo raised high above head-level, and turning to wave just before she disappeared into the crowds of people.  
  
***  
  
Hermione cleared her throat awkwardly. "Well, Dra- Malfoy. Its just you and me now."  
  
Draco seemed to be feeling just as awkward as Hermione now that their mediator had disappeared into oblivion.  
  
"Yeah." He said quietly. "Do you think that maybe you could show me how to get home now?"  
  
Hermione looked confused for a moment. Then it dawned on her. She had entirely forgotten herself that Draco was lost, and the only reason she had spent the day with him so far was because he needed her to get home. She had almost been beginning to enjoy his company too.  
  
"Sure." Hermione's voice was quiet now. "Umm... Quickest way would be to get to the nearest Floo connection. And that would be..." She screwed up her face in concentration. "Diagon Alley."  
  
Draco shrugged, his cold demeanour had returned again. "And we get there, how?"  
  
Hermione matched his cold manner with a cutting tone of her own. "My dear Malfoy. Prepare to be introduced to the Northern Line, London's..." she smirked sarcastically, "finest branch of the London Underground." 


	10. Chapter 10

Oxford Street was getting more and more congested as the day went on. It was getting increasingly difficult to snake in between people, and increasingly difficult to breathe without inhaling something unpleasant. If it wasn't a mixture of strong perfumes, it was a mouthful of second-hand cigarette smoke.  
  
It suddenly occurred to Draco that he had forgotten he was amongst an entire population of muggles, mud-blooded non-wizards, who, lets face it, were nothing short of inferior to him. The fact that they rudely pushed past him, oblivious to this fact, made him extremely irritable and snappy. Hermione soon discovered this after he had been walking alongside her for fifteen minutes, an uneasy silence hanging over them.  
  
Draco suddenly stopped walking. "How much further is this bloody station?"  
  
Hermione sighed. "Another five minutes walking if we carry on and don't stop to argue about it."  
  
"This is stupid," Draco growled, "all these muggles in the bloody way..."  
  
"Stop complaining. The sooner we carry on, the sooner we'll..."  
  
Draco interrupted. "Why couldn't we just go to the same station your daft friend went to? That would have been a two minute walk!"  
  
Hermione sighed again. Could she really be bothered to explain the complexities of the London Underground to Draco, who would neither: a) Care less, or b) Still insist she was in the wrong? After a short moments contemplation, she decided that it was probably better for her to tell him. At least it might ease the awkward silence. She reached into her pocket, and pulled out a folded up tube map.  
  
"Keep walking, and I'll explain."  
  
---  
  
"This is a very long five minutes, Granger." Draco commented, about twenty minutes later.  
  
Hermione was rather pink from walking, and she looked around her. They had left Oxford Street, but there were still people all around them.  
  
"I, uh... I'm not sure how to put this. But..." A worried look fell over her face.  
  
Draco's heart sank. "We're lost?"  
  
"Not exactly lost. I'm just... not sure where we are exactly." Draco opened his mouth, his eyes narrowed, ready to put her down. She laughed nervously, and spoke quickly before he got the chance. "But it's a problem easily- solved. Listen, I'll just ask somebody." Hermione spun around, and looked desperately at the muggles streaming past her. She tapped an elderly man on the shoulder, "excuse me, sir?"  
  
The man turned round. He had a kindly face, with red cheeks, rosy from the cold air. He smiled.  
  
"Yes my dear."  
  
Hermione gestured to herself and Draco. "We've managed to get ourselves a little lost. Could you tell us how to get to Tottenham Court Road Station?"  
  
"Of course." The man smiled again, sympathetically. "Its not too much of a trek. About a mile back down that way, and directly on your left." He pointed over the heads of the shoppers.  
  
"A mile?!" Draco blurted out suddenly. "A whole mile?" He turned to Hermione. "You fool, how could you have got us a mile out of our way?"  
  
The old man's expression darkened slightly. "Now, now." He scolded gently. "Enough of that. I'm sure its no more her fault than it is yours." He smiled at Hermione again. "You know, in my day, a mile was nothing. I used to have to walk uphill ten miles to school every day, no matter what the weather - snow or shine." He paused wistfully. "And then back uphill home in the afternoon... And I had to carry my younger brother on my back." He winced, as if it was a painful memory.  
  
"It was uphill both ways?" Draco asked incredulously, a look of pure disbelief plastered across his face.  
  
Hermione elbowed him subtly in the stomach. Draco flinched. She smiled sweetly at the man. "Well thank you very much for your help."  
  
The old man nodded, and continued walking.  
  
Draco turned on Hermione. "A whole mile? What are you, stupid?"  
  
Hermione tried to restrain herself. It was getting progressively more and more difficult to cope with Draco's mood swings every five seconds. "I'm sorry. Look, we can walk fast, it won't take..."  
  
"Oh SHUT UP!" Draco suddenly snapped. He imitated Hermione's voice. "It won't take five minutes." He paused. "Absolute bullshit! All day I have been dealing with your bullshit! Do you know something mudblood?" His tone was infused with spite, and his tone was full mocking. Hermione froze, her fists clenched. "For somebody so allegedly clever you are one of the..."  
  
He didn't get a chance to finish.  
  
SLAP!  
  
Hermione's hand made contact with his cheek, cutting him short, and sending him reeling backwards in shock.  
  
"YOU shut up you disgusting little maggot!" Hermione hissed, her eyes blazing with anger. "Just shut up." Tears welled up in her eyes, but she fought them back. "I have already apologised, what more do you want?"  
  
Draco opened his mouth to respond, but a warning look from Hermione told him she wasn't quite finished with him yet. "Let me tell you something, and you are going to listen to me!" Draco had tried to look away, but Hermione had grabbed his chin and forced him to make eye contact with him. Their faces were dangerously close.  
  
Hermione forced the words out, her voice sounding strangely choked, almost as if she was trying to force back a huge lump in her throat.  
  
"All day I have dealt with YOUR bullshit!" Draco gasped. He had never heard Hermione swear before. "I actually convinced myself that you couldn't be all that bad; that maybe I was just being judgemental. I tried to see a good side of you, and do you know something?" She paused for breath. "I almost found it. A couple of times today I thought I saw your good side; saw the side of you that wasn't conditioned by your cursed Malfoy rules; saw the side of you where you and I are potential equals..."  
  
She shook her head.  
  
"But I was wrong... For somebody so 'allegedly clever'," she spat the words out. "I guess I'm not!"  
  
Draco stood, awestruck, clutching his stinging cheek.  
  
A small electronic beep echoed between them, breaking the tension between them for a second.  
  
Hermione pulled her own mobile phone out of her pocket, pressed a couple of the buttons, and appeared to be reading the screen. Her expression softened for a moment, before...  
  
"HA!" She yelled sarcastically, shoving it back into her jacket.  
  
Suddenly Draco was furious. "Do you think I've wanted to spend my day with you? Do you honestly think that I would have spent longer than a minute with you if I didn't have to?! I would rather be stabbed and exploded to death by a rampaging Erumpent after catching a mutated form of malaria in the deepest darkest depths of Africa!"  
  
"Interesting imagery Malfoy. Care to make it a reality?" Hermione pulled her jacket open to reveal her wand poking out of an inside pocket.  
  
Draco laughed. "And so emerges the more catty side of Hermione Granger."  
  
"Catty am I, Malfoy?" Hermione smoothly responded. "Better than being a ferret!"  
  
Hermione knew she had hit a sore spot, because Draco's eyes flickered at the memory of being turned into a ferret in fourth year by Professor Moody, and being bounced up and down, hitting the ceiling several times and then falling ten feet to the floor.  
  
His eyes narrowed. "Better a ferret than a bushy-haired baboon," he challenged.  
  
Hermione's eyes opened so wide they looked as though they were going to pop out.  
  
"How DARE you!" She shrieked, and several people turned around to see what the fuss was about. However, the scene of two teenagers throwing verbal abuse at each other seemed to attract little attention, and most continued walking without a second glance over their shoulder.  
  
"I wish you'd just drop DEAD on the spot!" Hermione spat out the worst thing she could possibly think of to say.  
  
"With pleasure, but LADIES FIRST!" Draco bellowed back.  
  
"You make me SICK!" Hermione moved forwards, and shoved Draco into a side street, away from the public eye. His back smashed into a wall, and he screwed up his eyes in pain.  
  
"Well..." He searched his brain for an equally callous remark. "You...make me SICKER!"  
  
"You... you... You PIG!" Hermione was running out of insults, but the level of her voice certainly wasn't showing any sign of decreasing.  
  
"You BIGGER pig!"  
  
Hermione took a step closer to Draco, her eyes dangerously burning holes into his own furious ones.  
  
"I... I..." Hermione stammered, her volume suddenly dropped. "I like you."  
  
"I like you more!" Draco's answer came quickly, and he leant forward.  
  
Their lips touched like fire to ice, and he pulled Hermione closer into him as they became locked in a fierce, electrifying kiss. Her hands tangled in his blonde hair, and she kissed him hungrily, passionately. Meanwhile, his hands were on her neck, her shoulders, her back...  
  
Suddenly, the realisation sank in of what was happening, and Hermione pulled away. Her brown eyes flew open, and met Draco's blue ones. Her hand flew to her mouth, as she gasped for breath.  
  
Draco was panting for air too, and he the look on his face was shocked. Shocked, yet relieved.  
  
What on earth had just happened? 


	11. Chapter 11

It was a perfectly justifiable question.  
  
What had just happened?  
  
Silence.  
  
Draco opened his mouth several times in the few minutes following their brief lip-lock, as if to say something; but it seemed that even he was lost for words. And if the whole antecedent incident didn't convey enough astonishment, Draco's inability to comment certainly put the icing on the cake.  
  
Hermione took a deep breath. "Wh- what....." She stopped, massaged her temples and started her sentence again. "How....." In despair, she exhaled deeply.  
  
It was no use. The words just refused to come out. Either that or she didn't know what to say. Hermione desperately tried to convince herself that her inability to speak was due to the former, but after a moment's careful consideration, and as much as she hated finding herself in a position where she didn't know something, she concluded that it was definitely due to the latter.  
  
Their eyes met; Draco's insecurity of his present circumstances immediately visible to Hermione. She wondered if he could tell how she was feeling in the same way that she could him.  
  
Draco broke their eye contact, and looked at the ground. He suddenly became aware that he was still backed against the wall. He pushed himself off the wall with his shoulder. He sighed. As far as Draco was concerned, any distraction from this post-kiss silence would be a heaven-send. At this moment in time he felt as though he would be grateful for anything to occur, even if it involved something as eventful as being kidnapped and then mauled by a Chinese Fireball. His gaze shifted from the ground to the sky, a strange new hope reflected in his eyes, almost as if he actually expected a dragon to suddenly dive down to earth.  
  
No sign of that dragon.  
  
Draco sighed again, and started distractedly punching the wall.  
  
"You shouldn't do that." Hermione commented, softly.  
  
Draco looked at her, his left eyebrow raised.  
  
"Just something my mum told me once." A slight smile played around the corners of Hermione's lips. She mimicked what could only have been her mother's voice. "Don't even think about touching any wall in London, 'Mione. You don't know which tramps have peed on them." She paused, and then smiled softly. "I'm sorry. It wasn't really relevant, I just....." Her voice trailed off as she sought for words.  
  
".....Didn't know what else to say?" Draco asked, his voice soft and unusually quiet.  
  
Hermione quickly changed the subject, skipping over Draco's implications, trying to pretend that nothing at all had happened, and..... failed miserably. Her voice was higher, and somewhat more strained than normal.  
  
"So, where were we? Oh yeah, going home. The station, about a mile that way wasn't it? Ok then, lets go....." She started to walk off.  
  
"Oh no you don't." Draco grabbed her wrist, his words infused with a tinge of amusement, and pulled her back to face him. He swallowed, and blinked. "We really should talk about this; no, we are going to talk about this." He eased his grip on Hermione's arm.  
  
"What do we need to talk about?" Hermione asked, somewhat pathetically. "What could we possibly need to talk about....." She paused, and her eyes filled with tears. "Why would I....." She tried to blink them back - it didn't work. Her hand flew to her eyes, and she turned away from Draco, ashamed of her tears.  
  
"What's wrong?" Draco asked, looking quite anxious.  
  
Hermione laughed bitterly through her tears, wiped her eyes and looked Draco square in the eye.  
  
"This is wrong!" She exclaimed.  
  
"This?"  
  
Hermione made a noise in the back of her throat, which greatly resembled an exasperated growl.  
  
"What. Just. Happened."  
  
"What? You bursting into tears on me for no apparent reason, or....."  
  
"What do you think?" Hermione spat. "You kissed me!"  
  
"Funnily enough I was fully aware of that." Draco's eyebrow was raised again.  
  
Hermione shook her head. "Don't even think you can weave your way out of this by being a smart arse!"  
  
"I wasn't planning on it." Draco was now making no effort to hide his irritation.  
  
"Planning on what? Kissing me or being a smart arse?" The bitterness had evaporated.  
  
"Well, neither really....." Draco admitted.  
  
Hermione's defensive shields went up. "Then why did you do it? What suddenly gave you the urge to invade my personal space?"  
  
"You mean your lips?" Draco fought to conceal a smirk.  
  
"Well I'D call them mine!" Hermione sounded so outraged that Draco had to laugh. "STOP LAUGHING!" She shouted. "This is not funny! Why did you do it?"  
  
Draco stopped laughing. His cheeks coloured slightly.  
  
"So, you were saying about walking to the station. I should really be getting home now. My dad....."  
  
".....can wait!" Hermione stepped in front of Draco, a new menacing expression pasted across her face. She backed him against the wall again. "Now," Hermione's tone was smooth and undeniably dangerous - Draco was on thin ice; he would have to watch what he said. "Please enlighten me as to why you felt it necessary to stick your tongue down my throat."  
  
"Firstly," Draco's tone matched Hermione's, "I don't want tramp urine on my jacket. Would you mind....." He gestured Hermione out of his way. Reluctantly, she obliged, beaten by the logic of her own anecdote. "Thank you." He moved away from the wall and readjusted the collar of his jacket. "Secondly, I really think we should make a move towards the station." Hermione opened her mouth to object. Before she could do so, Draco raised his hands. "But I do owe you an explanation." His eyes slightly narrowed. "You're lucky you're getting one - Malfoys don't apologise."  
  
Hermione rolled her eyes - another bloody Malfoy family rule. However, not to be outdone, she almost automatically responded, "but Malfoys don't kiss mudbloods either, do they?"  
  
Draco was feeling uncomfortable again. She seemed able to constantly outwit him.  
  
"You seem to be forgetting, Miss Granger, that you kissed me back."  
  
Hermione happily skipped over this subject, and smiling sweetly said, "That doesn't count as an explanation."  
  
Now it was Draco's turn to growl in exasperation.  
  
"I just..... I just felt like it." He shrugged. "That's all. No particular reason. Thought it would shut you up."  
  
As soon as the words were out of his mouth he regretted them.  
  
There was a horrible silence.  
  
"Oh really?" Hermione broke it.  
  
Draco nodded, expressionless, avoiding eye contact with Hermione.  
  
"Liar."  
  
"Excuse me?" Draco's eyes opened so wide that they almost popped out. "I have never been so deadly serious in my life." He took a deep breath, desperately hoping his false confidence would be convincing enough to fool Hermione. He injected his familiar cold sarcasm into his voice. "You were throwing a fit at me in public, I wanted to shut you up. That would mean stopping words from coming out of your mouth, and seeing as I can't hex you here, how better to do it than....."  
  
"You lying toad, Draco Malfoy!"  
  
"Why do you think I did it, Granger?" Draco spat. "Did you think that I liked you or something?" He pretended to search her face for the answer, although he was really looking right through her. He put on a tone of false mockery. "Oh, you did..... How sweet." He laughed nastily. "Whatever possessed you to think that I would ever consider liking you..... You're just a lowly mudblood!"  
  
Hermione laughed, just as nastily. "I'm sorry, I just can't believe you. Do you want to know what I think? Actually, don't answer, because I am going to tell you EXACTLY what I think! You're scared." Draco scoffed aloud. Hermione ran her hands through her hair in irritation. "You can't even look at me in the face!" For the second time that day, she grabbed Draco's chin and forced him to look at her directly. "Say it again then," she hissed. "Say it to me as opposed to through me. Tell me that I'm not good enough for you! Tell me that you felt nothing when you kissed me. Tell me that....." Her eyes filled up again, but this time she forced the tears back, showing only her desperation for the truth. "Tell me that you, not even for a brief moment, thought that....." She sighed. "Forget it. Whether you admit it or not, you're a liar."  
  
"For the twentieth time, Granger, I - I'm not....."  
  
"Of course not." The sarcasm slid off Hermione's tongue. "I just can't understand why you're making such an effort to justify to yourself that I mean nothing to you. That's what you're doing Draco, I can see right through you. Why bother? Are you really that much of a coward that you can't admit your own feelings?" A thoughtful yet troubled expression settled on her face briefly, before it dissolved into an empty smile. "Anyway, I- I think I'll be going home now." She turned on her heel and began to walk away, turning round to face Draco as she reached the end of the road, only a few metres away. "So, I'll see you in January on the Hogwarts Express I expect..... If you ever find your way home." She added the last part in an undertone.  
  
Draco watched her walk away, and turn back onto the main road. What had he done? He had hardly handled that in the best possible way. And now he was back to square one, stranded with no idea of how to get home.  
  
He shook his head. He didn't care about getting home though. All he could even think about was his conversation with Hermione. Draco couldn't remember ever having been so harsh to anybody and as a result actually feeling guilty for it. It was a horrible feeling, burning through his insides..... He had to find Hermione.  
  
He raced off in the same direction she had gone, reaching the end of the side-road they had been on. He remembered the old man's directions to the station, and as quickly as possible on such a congested street, began to weave his way up the main road.  
  
---  
  
Out of breath and exhausted, Draco reached the station. "Tottenham Court Road" - that was the place.  
  
However, it wouldn't be as easy as he had hoped to find Hermione. There were people everywhere: queuing up to press buttons on the walls, talking to attendants dressed in bright blue and orange uniforms and inserting small cards into slots which then opened small gates..... But there was no sign of the dark-haired witch.  
  
Draco's hopes began to fade.  
  
"So you're not entirely useless." A familiar voice rang out.  
  
Draco spun around to see Hermione looking up at him, her head cocked to one side. She almost looked, but could she possibly be, amused. Draco decided it would be safer if he assumed that she wasn't.  
  
"I'm almost impressed. Seems like you do pay some attention when it suits you. Look, I would have come and found you anyway... Well, I might have considered it at the least."  
  
"Hermione..."  
  
"Look, you don't have to start being nice to be just because you need to find your way home, I already said... One moment," Hermione paused, "Did you just call me 'Hermione'?"  
  
"That's your name, isn't it?" Draco asked, defensively.  
  
"Yes, but you never..." She stopped. "Never mind. Anyway, what did you want to say?"  
  
"You're right."  
  
"I'm always right." Hermione's response was short and comical. "But what about?"  
  
Draco laughed at her dry humour. "I'm a liar."  
  
Hermione's mouth fell open. She quickly came to her senses and closed it, swallowing hard. "About which part?"  
  
Naively having not been expecting an interrogation, and least of all having not been expecting to have to answer this question, Draco's confidence dissolved almost immediately. His voice trailed off as he answered, "you know which part I'm talking about..."  
  
Hermione stared at him, no trace of amusement on her face now. "I want to hear you say it."  
  
Draco blushed bright red, and dragged his eyes away from his feet, forcing himself to look into Hermione's eyes. "I like you. Satisfied?"  
  
Hermione grinned. "Very!"  
  
She grabbed Draco around the neck and planted her lips upon his. His arms wrapped around her as he kissed her for the second time that day. When they finally broke apart, Hermione kissed Draco on the cheek.  
  
"Diagon Alley, here we come."  
  
---  
  
Draco was not entirely impressed with the London Underground, to say the least. Hermione did try to explain that it didn't always smell of vomit, and that there weren't always mashed-up remains of take-away meals strewn over the floor, but there was no talking Draco out of his threats to never use London Transport ever again.  
  
"So," Draco gazed up at the Underground map, as their train bulleted towards Charing Cross, "How will you get home from Diagon Alley? Your house isn't on the Floo Network."  
  
"True, true." Hermione played with Draco's fingers, which had been intertwined with her own since dodging past the guards checking for tickets at Tottenham Court Road. "But that's no problem, I'll just get back on a train. There's a station right near my house. Same line as well..."  
  
"Speaking of which, where do you live?"  
  
Hermione reclaimed her fingers, and stood up. The carriage was surprisingly empty, and she knelt on the seat opposite Draco, pointing to a blob on the map above the seat. "Here. I live about five minutes from East Finchley station."  
  
"Maybe I'll visit you some time, if you're lucky."  
  
"I thought you said you were never using the tube again."  
  
"I'm not."  
  
"Then how exactly do you propose to..."  
  
"Oh shut up!" Draco pecked Hermione softly on the lips before she had the chance to comment. He pulled away enough to smile at her.  
  
Suddenly something dawned on him, and he pulled away from Hermione to ask her something.  
  
"Hermione."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Was that message you received on your phone whilst we were fighting from Lisa?"  
  
Hermione looked confused for a second. "Yeah, why?"  
  
Draco grinned. "What DID she ask Father Christmas for?"  
  
Hermione grinned back, and withdrew her phone from her pocket. She pressed a few buttons, and found the message. She handed the phone to Draco with strict instructions that he was NOT to touch any buttons; the last thing she needed was her SIM card being blocked by a technology-ignorant wizard. Draco looked at her in confusion, but took the phone anyway, reading the small black letters displayed on the tiny, illuminated-green screen:  
  
"I WISH THAT A CERTAIN TWO PEOPLE STANDING IN-LINE BEHIND ME WILL GET THEIR ACTS TOGETHER - PERHAPS A LITTLE CUNNINGLY-POSITIONED MISTLETOE MIGHT DO THE TRICK!"  
  
Draco laughed. "Are you going to bother telling her that she won't need to invest in any of that over-rated dead tree?"  
  
Hermione laughed at his cynicism, and put her phone away.  
  
"She'll be the first person I call when I walk in the door."  
  
"And be sure to write a thank-you letter to Santa as well." Draco sarcastically threw in.  
  
SMACK!  
  
Hermione slapped him gently on the shoulder. "Shut up!"  
  
The train began to slow down, pulling into Charing Cross station. A mechanical voice suddenly spoke over the loudspeaker:  
  
"This is Charing Cross station. Change here for main line suburban rail services, British Rail and..."  
  
Hermione turned to Draco. "...Diagon Alley. This is your stop." She stood up. "I'll walk you to the station exit. You can see the Leaky Cauldron from there."  
  
Draco nodded.  
  
---  
  
Standing at the exit of the station, Hermione turned to face Draco. "You're ok from here, aren't you? Are you positive you don't need walking to the Leaky Cauldron?"  
  
"Hermione, I don't even need to cross any roads! Will you please stop acting like a neurotic grandmother!"  
  
"Sorry. I just don't want you to leave."  
  
"I'll send you an owl before the end of the holidays. Maybe, if my dad doesn't kill me, we can meet up in Diagon Alley before we go back to school." Draco's stomach was feeling quite weak at the thought that in a few moments he would be seeing his father, and possibly having to handle a great deal of his wrath to make matters all the more worse.  
  
Hermione nodded.  
  
Draco leant forward to kiss Hermione goodbye. He pulled her closer than ever, as she stood on tiptoes to reach entirely round the back of his neck.  
  
Draco was first to pull away, kissing Hermione affectionately on the forehead. She released him from her grasp, and smoothed his t-shirt out. He rolled his eyes in amusement.  
  
"Neurotic grandmother. Enough said?" Hermione burst into a fit of giggles at Draco's accurate comparison.  
  
Their hands separated, and Draco began to walk towards the Leaky Cauldron, turning to wave at Hermione as he reached the door. Once she saw he was safely inside, she turned and made her way back down to the train platforms.  
  
---  
  
Back in familiar territory, Draco stopped a moment to breathe in his surroundings - he could almost taste the magic in the air. Across the room, two middle-aged wizards were arguing about the bar tab. Their wands were drawn, and then were throwing hexes at each other. Because the men were slightly tipsy, their aim was, to say the least, highly imprecise, and coloured sparks were darting around the room and landing on innocent customers. A couple of waiters were desperately trying to restrain the men, as more and more customers left, some with leeks freshly sprouted from their ears, and one highly-strung witch threatening to have the place shut down due to being unable to control its regulars - she was heatedly telling an extremely stressed-looking waiter that this was the third time she had left the pub in the last two weeks having been hexed, only she had never been as outraged as she was now. Her fury was understandable, Draco thought. She had turned bright green from head-to-toe, and had developed purple whiskers which protruded unattractively from her temples, chin and beneath her nose.  
  
Dodging jagged embers of multi-coloured light, Draco approached the bartender on duty. He reached into his jacket pocket, and pulled out one gold galleon.  
  
"Any chance of using your Floo terminal?"  
  
The bartender's eyes fell onto the gleaming piece of gold in Draco's hand, and widened.  
  
"But of course, sir."  
  
Draco smiled smugly to himself, ecstatic to be back on wizard soil. He handed over his galleon to the bartender, and reached into the pot he held out in return. Pulling out a handful of glittering green powder, Draco threw it into the blazing fireplace.  
  
Ignoring the butterflies in his stomach, Draco spoke clearly into the green flames, which arose around him. "Malfoy Manner."  
  
He stepped into the fireplace, and bit his lip as the magical vortex carried him home.  
  
He would be sure to savour his few moments of silence in the gyrating green realm of limbo. A nasty feeling in the pit of his stomach told him that perhaps things would not be so calm and undisturbed when he landed at the other end... 


	12. Chapter 12

The dining room of the Manner swiftly whirled into focus around him, and after taking a moment to let the spinning stop, Draco stepped out of his own familiar fireplace.  
  
In his immense relief to be home, the tension in his stomach began to slip away. He grinned nervously to himself, and ran his hand through his hair.  
  
BANG!  
  
The door flew open, and in swept Lucius Malfoy, his face as cold and expressionless as usual.  
  
The smile on Draco's face disappeared almost instantly, and the knots which had just been beginning to loosen in his stomach immediately tightened again.  
  
"F-father."  
  
"Good evening, Draco," his father's drawled, still showing no emotion. "You certainly took your time getting home."  
  
Draco hesitated for a moment, not sure quite how to respond.  
  
"I, uh... You see, I..." Draco stammered, desperately trying to think of something to say, and at the same time, waiting nervously for his father's short fuse to blow, and for his future to be scarred by some sort of hideously traumatising punishment.  
  
Nothing.  
  
Lucius Malfoy continued to stare at his son for a moment, before raising his hand to his mouth, clearing his throat, and turning towards the door.  
  
"Somebody to see you."  
  
Draco's eyebrows shot up so high they were in danger of disappearing into his hairline as Noah Baron-Williams walked into the room.  
  
What was HE doing here? As if regaling his father with stories of his apparating catastrophe wouldn't be fun enough, he now had to explain his failure to the man who had been so sure that he would succeed.  
  
Draco broke out in a cold sweat, and directed his glance ashamedly at his feet.  
  
"Master Malfoy," as Noah spoke, Draco slowly looked up to meet his eyes. "Welcome back to the wizarding world." Noah reached into a small satchel he was carrying, and pulled out a small scroll of parchment, fastened with the Ministry of Magic's recognisable red wax seal. He presented it to Draco.  
  
A wave of confusion washed over Draco. He had already received his notice of failure, so what was this? Surely it wasn't necessary to receive a second confirmation of his idiocy. And in front of his father, of all people? Draco cringed, and fingered the parchment warily - could it be a Howler in disguise? He shuddered at the thought, his imagination working overtime trying to conjure up any kind of explanation for the piece of parchment in his hand.  
  
"Well don't just stand there like a fool, Draco." Lucius Malfoy said coldly. "Open it." He turned to Noah Baron-Williams, who nodded towards Draco.  
  
His hands shaking, Draco broke the seal on the parchment and began to unroll it. As he opened it, rows of letters began to arrange themselves in front of his eyes.  
  
"Read it aloud." Noah instructed.  
  
Draco's eyes widened in horror, yet he obeyed.  
  
"For the attention of Draco Malfoy," he read, his eyes widening more and more as he read further down the page.  
  
"This is to certify that you have reached the required standard necessary to pass your official Apparating Test." Draco stopped reading, and shook his head. He re-read the previous few lines, and looked up. "But this can't be right. I-I thought that..."  
  
"Carry on." Noah was grinning.  
  
Draco uneasily smiled back, still avoiding his father's cold glare. He continued to read.  
  
"You have successfully completed stage 2(i) of the Apparating Test, whereby you were deliberately sent to a popular Muggle zone and expected to find your way home without the aid of magic. It is necessary to be able to act rationally in the face of an emergency situation without jeopardising the secrecy of the wizarding world.  
  
"Congratulations! You are now entitled to apparate to any area you desire. This is a magnificent privilege - use it well."  
  
Draco grinned as he stopped reading aloud, and skimmed the last few paragraphs. Along with his ability to now pop, quite literally, in and out as he pleased, he was also entitled to free treatment at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries if he managed to splinch himself, or receive any other such 'damage' as a result of apparation.  
  
"But Noah," Draco began, speaking slowly, although his brain felt as though it was working at a hundred miles an hour, "I don't understand... What about Next Street? How did I..."  
  
Noah laughed.  
  
"Ah yes, a clever charm that one." Noah stared at the ceiling wistfully. "Invented and patented by Brutus Abbott in the seventeenth century." As Draco continued to look baffled, Noah elaborated. "A simple re-directional charm. It's been used for years." He laughed. "It's always been one of my favourite ones; sending young witches and wizards in the direction of Oxford and landing them on Oxford Street. It's almost a shame we examiners can't see you once you've disapparated. I can't even imagine the hilarity in watching panic set in when you think you've failed..."  
  
"Yeah, bloody hysterical." Draco muttered under his breath.  
  
"But you've passed, and that's the important thing." Noah cheerfully added. "No need for Floo powder anymore. I find it a rather dusty way to travel, always feel a bit grubby afterwards. Speaking of grubby," Noah lent towards Draco and whispered in his ear, "you have ash in your hair."  
  
Draco half-smiled. "Thanks for that."  
  
"No problem." He winked. "I never really liked the Leaky Cauldron's terminal, always preferred the one in the basement at Selfridges." He raised his eyebrow at Draco, who nearly choked the breath of air he had just inhaled.  
  
"Anyway, my work here is done." His eyes twinkled as he smiled at Draco. "Many congratulations." He turned and bowed to Lucius, who had barely moved since entering the room. "And good day to you, Mister Malfoy."  
  
Lucius nodded frigidly in return.  
  
Noah disapparated with a pop.  
  
Lucius turned to Draco. "I'm still waiting to hear your explanation of why it took you so long to get home."  
  
Draco froze. He swallowed hard, trying to ignore his father's grey eyes boring into his own. He decided it would probably not be the best idea to tell his father that he had spent the whole day with a girl of muggle parentage, and he KNEW that his father would not want to hear the rest of the story.  
  
When his son didn't answer, Lucius rolled his eyes. "Get out of my sight." As Draco turned to leave the room, his father continued speaking. "By the way, your mother and I are going out now." Draco turned back to face him. "We've been invited to dinner with Cornelius Fudge and his wife." He shook his head, as if the idea of dinner with the Minister of Magic could be seen as nothing but a recipe for monotony.  
  
Draco's tall, blonde mother waltzed into the room clothed in her expensive burgundy dress robes. She smiled faintly at her son as she took her husband's arm. "We will be back at midnight."  
  
With that, the two of them disapparated.  
  
Draco scratched behind his ear, wondering what to do with himself until midnight. He took off his jacket and smirked to himself.  
  
POP!  
  
It was a pleasant thing not to have to walk up the steep flights of stairs to his room.  
  
Draco hung up his jacket, and walked over to where the mirror hung. Noah was right, he did have ash in his hair. He dusted it out, and stretched his arms out to full length above his head. He yawned.  
  
It had been a pretty exhausting day.  
  
He glanced out of his bedroom door at the levitating grandfather clock on the landing. He was free to apparate as he so desired, and had all the time in the world...  
  
Draco grinned to himself as an idea came to him. He reached across to where his jacket hung, and put it back on. Standing in front of the mirror, he reached over to a nearby shelf and took hold of a tube of 'Magical Vanity Gel'. Squeezing some into his hands, he massaged in into his scalp.  
  
"Keratin-morpheus!" He commanded. The magical gel began to style his hair for him.  
  
Satisfied with the final result, Draco flashed a dazzling, yet rather arrogant, grin at his reflection. His sharply defined spikey hair definitely had a desirable affect on him, anybody could see that. He only hoped that Hermione was as impressed with the real him as he was with his own reflection. He laughed at his own conceit, and wiggled his eyebrow at his mirror-self.  
  
"Adora!" Draco yelled, still facing the mirror. He heard his house elf racing up the stairs, tripping over her own feet several times, or so it sounded, from the frequent wails drifting up into his room.  
  
Not ten seconds later, an exhausted house-elf almost fell into Draco's room.  
  
"Y-yes sir." She wheezed, gasping for air and holding on to the wall for support.  
  
"I won't be requiring dinner tonight. I'm going out."  
  
"B-but," Adora's eyes widened in dismay, "You know you're not allowed to leave the Manor without your father's permission."  
  
"So don't tell him." Draco sneered. "That's an order." His expression softened slightly. "What he doesn't know won't hurt him, and it won't hurt you either, if you know what I mean..." He stared with intent into her round, frightened eyes, remembering the last time he had got his poor house- elf into trouble, and cringing slightly at the memory of finding her sitting in front of the dying fire each night for a week, sobbing into a dirty rag and refusing to look at him unless forced.  
  
"I-I is not understanding you, sir."  
  
Draco rolled his eyes towards the ceiling and took a deep breath, preparing to explain again. "I have to go and see somebody tonight. A girl." He looked expectantly at Adora, whose small mind was quite obviously working quite hard from the looks of utmost concentration on her ugly little face. Realisation suddenly dawned on the daft creature, and a sly smile began to form.  
  
"Ah, I is understanding now... All right Master Draco, I shall not tell your father about you going out. In fact," the small smile stretched into a grin, which made her appear rather ghoulish, "I can pretend that you was never even telling me." She looked to Draco for approval.  
  
Entertained by her sudden burst of enthusiasm, Draco laughed and nodded. "You are dismissed."  
  
Adora bowed, and turned to leave the room.  
  
"Oh, and Adora," Draco quickly added. Adora spun around to face him. He smiled, "have a pleasant evening."  
  
Adora was beside herself with excitement at being addressed as an equal, and rushed from the room, tripping over her feet again.  
  
Draco grinned to himself. Some things would never change. Everybody knew that there were some things Malfoys just wouldn't do unless the end result directly benefited them. And Draco knew that Hermione had a real soft-spot for house-elves.  
  
Stepping away from the mirror, Draco pictured his destination and prepared to apparate.  
  
With six hours to burn before the parental units, as Lisa had called them, returned, and a mode of transportation with estimated travel time of about one second each way, that left him and Hermione with a LOT of kissing time...  
  
**THE END** 


End file.
